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Latin America Data Inventory

This inventory is the result of extensive research into the election data available for the most recent national elections (as of December 31, 2014) in the following Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Each of the country-specific tables in this inventory illustrates whether or not the data relating to different stages of the election process complied with open data principles.[1]

Data Openness Inventory Scoring System

The inventory's scoring system measures the openness of election data for different stages or data categories within an electoral process (e.g. EMB Administration, Voter Registration, Election Results, etc.). For each country, we scored data from the most recent, national-level election as of December 31, 2014.

Different categories of data from the various parts of the election process have different numbers of sub-categories, ranging from one to seven. A category's openness score is based on the scores of its sub-categories, which can achieve up to 20 points each. The overall category is then scored as a percentage of points received out of points possible. A score of 30% or less is considered "not open," over 30% and up to 70% is "partially open," and above 70% is "mostly open." The category of "Polling Stations," for example, has two sub-categories -- "Location" and "Polling Station Workers" -- and it is thus scored out of 40 possible points. So, if a country gets 30 out of 40 points in polling stations, it receives 75%, and, since that's above 70%, it it rated "open" for that category." The category of "Results" has seven sub-categories, including "Voters that participated," "Invalid ballots" and "Valid votes for each contestant," and is thus scored out of 140 points. For example, country X has Y points out of a total of 140 points. Thus Country X's results data is ZZ% or "mostly open".

The 20 possible points for each sub-category are allocated based on how the data for the sub-category in question complies with each of eight open election data principles. For each principle, the sub-category receives either the total possible number of points or zero points. A sub-category receives a possible 7 points for being available for free on the internet; 3 points for each of available at a granular level, complete and in bulk and analyzable; and 1 point for each of non-proprietary, non-discriminatory, license free and permanently available. The weighting of principles reflects their relative importance to increasing the "openness" of election data.

Principle

Points possible

Available for free on the internet

7

Granular

3

Complete and in bulk

3

Analyzable

3

Non-proprietary

1

Non-discriminatory

1

License free

1

Permanently available

1

Total

20

Please note that the open data principle of timeliness is not listed due to the fact that this research was undertaken after the relevant window of time had passed.